Tuesday’s Buzz: 11.1.11

A student start-up launched in July gives consumers easy access to new digital currency that is quickly spreading across cyberspace.

Thomas McCabe ’12 founded Get-Bitcoin.com this summer after he struggled to find places online to buy Bitcoins, a digital currency created in 2009 that people can anonymously sell, trade and use to buy products from select companies. McCade said traffic on the website is increasing daily — the site earned over $8,500 in revenue on Monday alone — but the company could potentially face restrictions from the US government.

Much of New Haven’s crime is associated with illegal drug dealing and people making “negative life choices,” City Hall spokesman Adam Joseph said Monday afternoon. Particularly in cases of violent crime, these choices are increasingly spurred by the sluggish economy, which makes it difficult for many inner-city dwellers to find jobs and earn a living, said two ex-drug dealers in a Monday night interview. While they said the solution to the Elm City’s rising homicide rate lies in creating more jobs, Joseph and New Haven Police Department spokesman David Hartman said policing efforts will continue with greater community engagement to help combat crime.

Those applying to Yale and universities nationwide with plenty to say will need to be more concise in their application essays this admissions cycle.

After a four-year experimental period with no upper word limit, the Common Application decided last spring to reinstate an advised upper limit of 500 words on the personal essays students submit as part of their materials. With Yale’s deadline for Single-Choice Early Applications fast approaching — extended until Nov. 2 because of the weekend’s unseasonable snowstorm ­— prospective Yale students and college applicants around the country are feeling the pressure of the new rule.